Wofford failed to monitor its men's basketball program when former men's basketball head coach Jay McAuley regularly required three student-athletes and occasionally others to participate in countable athletically related activities during designated days off, and the school did not have systems in place to detect violations, according to an agreement released by the Division I Committee on Infractions. As a result of McAuley's personal involvement in the violations, the parties agreed that McAuley violated head coach responsibility rules.
The school, McAuley and the NCAA enforcement staff agreed that the violations in this case occurred over the course of the championship segments of two academic years when McAuley regularly required three student-athletes — who were considered the team's leaders — to participate in countable athletically related activities on required days off, including film review, walk-throughs and individual workouts. Occasionally, McAuley also required additional student-athletes to participate in these activities on required days off. As a result, at least three student-athletes did not receive a required day off during most weeks of the championship segments of the basketball season.
On one occasion, McAuley required the team to review film late into the evening following a road loss, as well as film of the team's next opponent, which violated rules for countable athletically related activities following a competition. That same evening, McAuley required one student-athlete to meet with him until after midnight, again a violation of rules prohibiting countable athletically related activities between midnight and 5 a.m.
Due to his personal involvement in the violations, including his direction that assistant coaches ensure the regular violations of countable athletically related activities rules, McAuley violated head coach responsibility rules.
Finally, because the violations were not discovered until the university president received a letter signed by the basketball team stating that they no longer wanted to play for McAuley, the school and enforcement staff agreed that Wofford did not monitor its men's basketball program. Specifically, the school did not have adequate compliance monitoring systems in place to deter and detect the violations, including failing to collect activity logs for a nine-week period during the fall 2022 semester.
The parties used ranges identified by the Division I membership-approved infractions penalty guidelines to agree upon Level II-mitigated penalties for the university and Level II-aggravated penalties for McAuley. The decision contains the full list of penalties as approved by the Committee on Infractions, including:
- One year of probation.
- A $5,000 fine.
- A two-year show-cause order for McAuley. During the show-cause order, any employing member school shall restrict McAuley from all athletically related duties from the beginning of the show-cause period through the first regular- season contest and from participation in all countable athletically related activities outside the playing season until the end of the first year of the show-cause period. Additionally, any employing member school shall suspend McAuley from 50% of regular-season contests during the 2024-25 academic year.
- A five-day reduction in on-court preseason men's basketball practice sessions during the 2024-25 academic year.
- A reduction in weekly countable athletically related activities by two hours per week during the 2024-25 season.
- Three student-athletes will review and confirm the accuracy of their program's countable athletically related activities each week during the 2024-25 season.
- Members of the Committee on Infractions are drawn from the NCAA membership and members of the public. The members of the panel who reviewed this case are Stephen Madva, attorney in private practice; Kay Norton, president emerita at Northern Colorado and chief hearing officer for the panel; and Amy Parsons, president of Colorado State.
